


Meet-Cutes Don't Work Out, Do They?

by the_jinxed_one



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: M/M, Meet-Cute, Mentions of alcohol, Modern AU, Momo is a ferret, Sokka wears crop tops a lot, Tea Shop Zuko, Zuko has long hair, alternative universe, appa is a dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:14:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25773421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_jinxed_one/pseuds/the_jinxed_one
Summary: Zuko is stuck making a decision he really doesn't want to be making. He grabs the first person he sees to help him. The guy is cute and helpful and has a really nice laugh. Unfortunately, he gay panics and escapes before anything more can come out of the interaction. He's pretty sure he'll never see the guy again. He isn't counting on mutual friends or the guy actually being interested.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Suki
Comments: 8
Kudos: 157





	1. Ask an expert

Zuko sighed as he stared blankly at the assorted products in front of him. He didn’t know why Azula had sent him to the store for this… She could have asked Mai or Ty Lee. They would know what they were doing. He bet she didn’t even need the damn things. It was probably just a scheme to embarrass him. It did seem to be her latest hobby. Azula got such joy out of torturing and he wondered why he put up with it. Probably because despite her inability to express affection like a normal person and her shitty sense of humor, he did love her.

He reached for a box and stared at it before grabbing another box that looked like it held the exact same product. His brow furrowed as he glared at the offensive items. He groaned. What the hell was the difference between a cardboard applicator and plastic? Why was one specified for sport? Did she need 360 protection? Protection from what? He was growing more and more frustrated. She could have just told him what she needed but no, that would be the normal thing to do. Azula didn’t do normal.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. His head snapped to attention. A human! Perfect.

“You there,” Zuko said gruffly. Great start, he scolded himself.

The stranger looked around the otherwise empty aisle before realizing that he was being addressed. Zuko was filled with instant regret. The stranger was very possibly the most attractive man he had ever seen. He was striking with long hair pulled back to reveal an undercut, skin that had obviously been kissed by the sun, impossibly blue eyes, a strong jaw and Zuko was suddenly very aware that he was staring at the man’s arms. Zuko had seen some fit people in his time. He was no stranger to the gym but this man put them all to shame.

“Uhm...yes?” The stranger acknowledged him with a quirked eyebrow.

Zuko looked back at the boxes in his hands and glared at them. He held them up and practically shoved them at the man. “Which one?” he demanded, trying to hide his embarrassment.

The man stepped back to avoid being hit with the boxes. He stared at the boxes for a moment before a chuckle worked its way out of his beautifully formed mouth. Zuko could have melted. What a rich, sensual sound. The way those blue eyes sparkled didn’t help anything either. He felt his own pale face begin to flush. Two rough hands came up to grab the outside of his own hands. He watched as his hands were lowered so that his hands weren’t shoving product anymore.

“Neither.” He said as he took his hands back and gave a little shrug. As if to say “obviously”.

Zuko turned the boxes towards him and frowned at them before looking back at the wall of similar products. He knew he looked lost and disheartened. He was about to throw the boxes down and call Azula and tell her that her jokes sucked and that he was never doing her a favor ever again.

“Here,” the man said as he took the boxes and put them back where they belonged. He took a quick glance at the shelf and then swiped a box before tossing it at Zuko. He caught it and looked down at the package. Multipack with plastic applicators. He looked back at the man and cocked his only brow. “Trust me. I’m an expert.”

“Seems like a weird thing to be an expert about,” Zuko mumbled. He immediately wanted to groan. Why couldn’t he just say thank you like a normal person?

The man laughed. It was loud and hearty and Zuko found that he really liked it. Other than Ty Lee, he didn’t know too many people who laughed freely like that. “Maybe. But you might consider educating yourself a little more so that the next time your girlfriend sends you out for this stuff you aren’t so lost.”

“If my sister ever asks for this again, she can bleed to death for all I care.” Zuko scowled. Not that he needed to correct the man. But the idea of coming back into this aisle filled him with dread.

He didn’t quite catch the widening of blue eyes or the small smirk that had taken over the man’s face. “They can’t bleed to death but I get the sense it wouldn’t make much of a difference. I think someone’s been traumatized.” He moved back to what he came to the aisle for.

“What’s a little more trauma,” Zuko said with a shrug. He threw the box in his basket and looked back at the man. He was distracted for a moment as the man’s arm flexed as he used his index finger to scan the shelf. It was then that Zuko realized the man was wearing a crop top. His brain stopped functioning. His hands wrung in front of him as he bit his lip. He stared at the man’s exposed side. He could easily see the curve of his adonis belt and the way his skin ran taught over his abdomen. His little gay heart gave up. “Anyway, thanks for the help. Sorry to disturb your shopping.”

He hoped he sounded cool, unaffected. He wanted to go home and fall into a hole. He was going to throw the box of tampons at Azula so hard. This is why he didn’t socialize! One minute he was struggling to find the right feminine product for his sister, the next he was crushing on a random passerby. A passerby who apparently came down this aisle for… oh my god. He was grabbing lube. Zuko was going to die.

He turned and fled before the man could say anything. He went to the self check-out to avoid any more awkwardness. He took the little plastic bag from hell and yanked his hoodie up over his head as he sulked back to his car. He threw the bag into the passenger side floorboard and banged his head on his steering wheel. He exhaled deeply. He wanted a cigarette and a nap. This whole day suddenly sucked.  
He had mostly calmed down by the time he was unlocking his apartment door. He saw Azula laying on his couch with her feet kicked over the back. As always, she had made herself at home.

“How’d it go?” Azula asked without looking away from the television. Zuko tossed her the bag as he toed off his shoes. He heard rustling. “Zuzu, you actually did a decent job. I’m impressed. I didn’t even think you knew the difference between a tampon and a pad.”

Zuko scoffed. “I’m gay, not stupid.”

“You can be both. They aren’t mutually exclusive, ya know. Seriously. Good job.”

Zuko paused for a moment. Azula may be a terror but he could probably share this right? “I had...help.”

Azula’s feet swung down and she was suddenly sitting up straight on his red sofa. “Zuko. Did you have help or did you have help?” Zuko flushed. “Look at you. You’re redder than that time you tried to eat more fire flakes than me!” She was suddenly laughing until she had to wipe tears from her eyes.

Zuko rolled his eyes and moved to the kitchen to make a pot of tea. He wasn’t going to get a nap as long as Azula was here. He had a shift later at the Jasmine Dragon and seeing as they were short on staff, as per usual, he would likely be alone through the evening and he would need all the liquid help he could get.

“Don’t get sulky. It’s cute. What’s his name?” Azula asked with a smirk.

“I don’t know. I forgot to ask.”

A sharp laugh. “Of course you did.”


	2. You know who?

Sokka was very confused. Very confused and very charmed.

He hadn’t expected his run to the store to be anything other than ordinary. He’d mostly stopped for snacks. It was movie night and as Aang was in charge that evening, there was a good chance that he’d missed some stuff. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to stock up for the next time Aang forgot snacks.

Bless his roommate, but he had a tendency to be scatterbrained whenever it came to planning things. Aang was a master of go with the flow. Sokka was the plan guy. So, naturally, it fell on him to make sure things went well. Lest they all be stuck eating meatless-balls and oreos. No, thank you.

So, he headed into the store with a mental list of snacks when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out to see a text from Suki asking for lube. He scoffed and rolled his eyes before texting back a thumbs up. It seemed everyone in that house was getting some except him. Might as well keep them supplied. He decided to grab those first since he was pretty sure he was going to get ice cream.

When he turned down the aisle, he was surprised to see a man standing there juggling tampon boxes, looking positively lost and annoyed. If looks could burn, those boxes would be ashes in his palm. And then those eyes were burning him. Under the fluorescent lights they looked golden. Sokka didn’t really have time to take in much more before there were boxes of tampons being shoved in his face. The man looked desperate and Sokka was struck. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

It was the briefest interaction. Sokka made his way back to his task as he determined the right way to say “Hey, I could give you my number in case you ever need a tampon expert” without saying those exact words because who in their right mind would give their number to someone with that kind of line? He was about to turn and say something, anything when he caught the guy staring and blushing. His hands wringing in front of him and he was biting his lower lip like he was holding something back. Sokka wanted to pull that lip from his teeth, wanted to hold those hands.

And then he was gone. Sokka was left standing there with lube that wasn’t even for him and no number, no name, no anything. He felt deflated. It was brief. So brief and Sokka had tried not to get his hopes up but no straight man could be that oblivious when faced with such a predicament, right? And while he hadn’t actively said that he didn’t have a girlfriend, he had eluded to it. So, yeah, he was a little bummed.

When he came home, groceries and lube in hand, he was still thinking about golden eyes. He walked in to see Toph laying on top of Appa, a happy furry mass on the living room floor. She was bobbing her head to the music coming from the kitchen. Sokka let out a loud “I’m home” before kicking off his sneakers. Echoes rang from the kitchen that told him everyone was home. He tapped Toph’s foot as he walked past her. She kicked him in the thigh. He walked into the kitchen laughing. Suki was sitting on the kitchen counter eating an apple while Katara chopped vegetables. Aang was sitting on the kitchen floor playing with the ferret on the floor. The moment Momo saw Sokka approach, he scurried away from the bald boy and began adventuring his way up Sokka’s leg. Sokka sat his bags on the floor and scooped the little bugger up before he could begin scratching up his torso in his endeavor. He placed the chirping rodent on his shoulder.

“Sometimes I think he likes you better than me,” Aang said as he stood up.

“That’s just because he does,” Sokka said with a smile. “I come bearing snacks.”

“Oh, good! Because someone,” a pointed look at Aang who just smiled, “forgot. Again.” Katara said before poking her boyfriend in the side.

“Figures.”

“I hope you come bearing something else too?” Suki said. Sokka almost blushed. Instead he reached into the bag and threw the bottle at her. She caught it with one hand and smiled. “That'a boy.”

“I hate you, you know that right?”

She laughed. “I didn’t know a little lube could cause so much resentment.”

“I did,” Toph said as she made her way into the kitchen.

“Dirty,” Aang said with a laugh.

They were only in the kitchen for a moment before Katara shooed them out. Sokka snagged a few beers before he got smacked. They settled in the living room and Momo made himself comfortable in Sokka’s lap while Aang started flipping through movies. Toph had pulled Suki into her lap and had slotted their hands together. Sokka wasn’t exactly envious of them. Nor was he jealous of Aang and Katara. He was so incredibly happy his friends were happy. Except, if they could stop being so happy and in love in front of him while he was all kinds of single and alone that’d be great. Okay, maybe he was a little envious.

Hours later, everyone was happily tipsy and slotted together in a leggy mess on the floor. Katara had picked a romcom to watch and the meet cute made Sokka groan. “Meet-cutes are garbage. It never goes that well in reality!”

“How would you know? When was the last time you even talked to someone?”

“Today! And let me tell you, what could have been an adorable story to tell our grandkids ended up being a totally unsatisfying story that I now get to wallow in.” Sokka said before chugging the rest of his beer.

“Wait, wait. You met someone today?” Aang asked excitedly as he mindlessly and haphazardly braided Katara’s hair.

“Yeah…” Sokka recounted his encounter as well as he could while he grabbed another beer off the table. “And then he poofed! Just...gone. And he was sooo pretty. I mean, the golden eyes, the shaggy hair, even the scar! I mean, you have to be really pretty to make a scar that covers most of the side of your face work, right?”

“He has a scar?” Aang asked after a moment.

“I mean, yeah. It’s kind of hard not to notice. Big ol’ thing on the left side of his face, covers his eye. Did I mention how nice his eyes are? Because they’re like really nice. And his mouth?” Sokka hummed and closed his eyes.

“No more for you,” Katara laughed as she tugged the half empty bottle from his hand.

“I think I know that kid?” Aang said.

Sokka sat up quickly and stuck his face in Aang’s. “You what?” Aang fell back as he avoided Sokka’s skull.

“There’s a guy that looks like that at the tea shop I study at. I see him a lot in the evenings.”

“Iroh’s place?” Toph asked from Suki’s stomach.

“Yeah. He works evenings a lot.”

Sokka tried to still his heart. There was a good chance he could meet this guy again. There was a good chance that he could actually ask the guy out. “You’re sure?”

Aang shrugged. “I mean, no? I’m not sure, but I think there’s a solid chance it’s the same guy. It’s not often that you see a guy with long hair, gold eyes and a massive scar on their face. He’s kind of quiet. A little awkward?”

Sokka nodded enthusiastically.

“Sounds like Iroh’s nephew.” Toph added sleepily. “Met him once. Wasn’t that impressed. He’s okay, I guess. Iroh hypes him up a lot.”

“Okay. So, we know this guy. He’s probably not some sort of lunatic, right?”

“Knowing him means nothing. I’m surrounded by lunatics,” Toph stretched as she spoke.

“That’s rude. You’re the craziest one here. You have no fear or sense of self preservation.” Sokka said as he snuck another beer while Katara was distracted by the movie.

“Fear? If anything, I’m the thing to fear!” Toph laughed.

“Scary lady, right here. She might cuddle me to death!” Suki said before tickling her girlfriend’s side. Toph scoffed to hide a laugh.

“Do you, uh, has Iroh ever mentioned… is he…”

“Gay?”

“Queer?”

“Bent?”

“Anally inclined?” Toph offered with a filthy eyebrow wriggle.

Sokka blushed. “Yeah….that.”

Aang tossed him a big grin. “We can find out.”

Sokka had never been so grateful for his friend’s propensity for breaking social barriers. He might not be out of luck. And maybe, just maybe, meet-cutes could work out? He was certainly going to find out.


End file.
